AT&T outs HTC Aria via Facebook and YouTube

It looks like AT&T has just officially outed the HTC Aria via Facebook…with some help from YouTube. The Aria is officially an Android 2.1 device sporting a 3.2″ HVGA display, 7.2 Mb/s HSPA, a 5 megapixel camera, optical track-pad, and SenseUI. The new joint will be available on Ma’ Bell starting on June 20th. The video and Facebook musing are light on specification details — most of the YouTube video is a demo of SenseUI — but you can pass judgment on the new AT&T Android offering on your own. We’ve got the video queued up for you after the break.

AT&T* and HTC Corporation (“HTC”) today announced that HTC Aria™, a rich and powerful addition to AT&T’s Android smartphone portfolio, will be available exclusively at AT&T beginning June 20. Pocket-sized and packing the power of the Android 2.1 platform, a five megapixel camera and a bright 3.2 inch HVGA display, HTC Aria offers AT&T customers Android smartphone functionality in an amazingly easy-to-carry design. The combination of 3G speed, a responsive capacitive touch screen and an optical joystick makes HTC Aria an ideal smartphone for mobile broadband.

HTC Aria is Wi-Fi capable and qualifying customers will receive access to AT&T Wi-Fi, with more than 20,000 hotspots across the U.S. In addition, HTC Aria is compatible with AT&T’s High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 Mbps technology. This technology provides a considerable boost to 3G speeds when combined with expanded backhaul. The combination of faster wireless networks, smartphones like HTC Aria, and tens of thousands of available innovative mobile apps allows AT&T customers to mobilize virtually everything, from video and music, to social networking, to business applications.

“HTC Aria is the first of several smartphones in our Android portfolio to run the 2.1 platform,” said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Devices, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “When you combine the nation’s fastest 3G network, and access to the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network, HTC Aria will be one of the best Android smartphones available.”

HTC Aria features the acclaimed HTC Sense experience, which automatically delivers the most-wanted information by bringing it to the forefront of the mobile experience. Featuring the latest version of HTC Sense, HTC Aria offers even more ways to stay connected, including Friend Stream, which delivers Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates in a single, consolidated view.

“Its unique combination of compact size and beautiful design instantly separates HTC Aria from the pack of ‘me-too’ smartphones,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “But what really differentiates HTC Aria from other smartphones is the acclaimed HTC Sense experience, which we are pleased to be bringing to AT&T customers. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC Aria organizes all of your communications in the most human way possible – by person.”

A full selection of the newest and most popular Google services can be accessed with HTC Aria. This includes Google search, Google Maps, Google Navigation, Gmail, YouTube and more. With Android Market, customers can also choose from more than 50,000 applications to further personalize the mobile experience.

Along with being ultra-small at just over 4 inches long and weighing a mere 4.05 ounces, HTC Aria’s seamless wrap-around soft-touch back cover eliminates sharp edges, making HTC Aria exceptionally convenient to carry and comfortable to hold as well.

Featuring the best selection of smartphones and OS, AT&T is ranked #1 in customer satisfaction among smartphone owners. AT&T plans to expand its Android portfolio to include other Android smartphones during the second half of 2010.

Pricing and Availability

HTC Aria will be available on June 20 at AT&T retail locations nationwide or at http://www.att.com/wireless for $129.99 after $100 mail-in rebate (pay $229.99 and after mail-in rebate receive $100 AT&T Promotion Card. Two-year agreement required and smartphone data plan required).

AT&T does not want any part of any phone which will draw sales away from the iPhone. I’d pay to see if the amount sales of the iPhone vs. the rest of their line up was in the exclusivity agreement with Apple. Almost any high end Android phone on AT&T would immediately siphon sales away from the iPhone.

http://www.dastardlyreport.com ryaninc

I actually think this looks nice. There’s definitely a place for smaller phones and I think it’s a really attractive design. I also love that they seem to have gone with physical buttons, instead of capacitive buttons. The capacitive ones are just too easy to hit accidentally, I think.

Elrabin

Those look like the capacitive buttons from the Evo.

The HTC Legend and Desire have physical buttons, not this one seemingly.

New Rule: You can no longer manufacture Android devices w/ anything less than a 1ghz processor. That’s it.

tino72

HTC desire with US 3g doesnt..Sold my N1 for it wouldnt go back

Simon

Tino72, which HTC Desire did you buy?

I want to know because I might do the same but I want to make sure I buy the correct HTC Desire that works on AT&T 3G.

tino72

A8183 desire from Telstra is your best choice..very pricey though

jay

This is quite surprising. I wonder how many AT&T reps will be pushing customers away from the Aria in favor of the iPhone 4.

Although i’m not on AT&T, it’s great to see the HTC Aria becoming the flapship device with nice specs.

Elrabin

Aria a flagship device?

i think you needed a /sarcasm/ tag there.

The Aria appears to be the lowest specced Android 2.1 device out right now

Even the HTC Legend, which i consider to be underpowered, has 384mb of ram where the Aria has an anemic 256mb ram.

AT&T fails again on procuring a good Android device.

tino72

I have to agree, pathetic Ram and the awful 3.2 screen..i cant believe this isnt at least 3.7..So close but yet still so far away..Id do anything to have a EVO 4g size screen with Att and not yahooed up..

mommysays

Incorrect, the Aria has 384mb of ram according to this PDF Spec sheet:

At&t….still handicapping your customers even when you give them what they want. A BS backflip…and then this.

3.2 doesnt cut it anymore…Nobody is sayin go and get a 4.3 screen but at least 3.6. Lousy android phones…lousy coverage i guess.

ucfgrad93

Agreed, that 3.2 is too small. If it was similar to the Nexus One in size I’d seriously consider it.

JB

Well this might be our first step forward into opening the android door for at&t but i guess we gotta wait till the iphone gets outted to verizon before we start getting the high end devices but i still want to make the jump to the big red machine!!!!

ViniD

How is the phone gonna be the size of the iphone and have 3.2″ screen, ATT once had that best phones so i switched to them from verizon and know it looks like verizon is getting killer phones and ATT is just cant do anything right. If ATT doesnt get a better android by sept then i am going to Verizon

RobCal

see ya wouldn’t’ wanna be ya

Elrabin

*sigh* silly AT&T

Boy am i glad i left a couple months ago for Verizon and the HTC Incredible

I heard over and over “Oh, AT&T will be getting Android phones!”

Whoopie.

Look what they get.

Crippled Backflip
Crippled Dell Aero
I-wish-I-was-a-tablet Dell Streak
and now an HTC legend that wishes it was an Evo or an Incredible judging by the styling.

Fail fail and MORE FAIL.

AT&T is too busy with Apple to bother with Android.

A mistake for sure. They’re falling horridly behind the other 3 carriers in choice.

And regardless of what they’ve spend on infrastructure improvements, it obviously isn’t enough.

Their coverage and service is TERRIBLE in major metropolitan areas. They don’t have enough capacity for those dense environments.

justme

hmmmm you are wrong sir, vzw invested about 5 billion dollars last year. and i could give 2 shits if at&t doesnt work in New york or LA it works in the 4 MAJOR Metropolitan areas im in on a constant basis which includes the 3rd largest city in this country..

justme

and the only people having service issues are people on the jesus phone so once again if you buy a shit product with a half eaten piece of fruit on it you get what you get

justme

the article also states that vzw was ahead by 5 billion over like a 5 year stretch princess.. and it was about 6 months old

justme

Between 2008 and the third quarter of 2009, according to Butler, AT&T spent $19 billion on its wireless operation, including reinforcing its network, purchasing wireless spectra, and doing acquisitions.

For 2010, AT&T will spend about $18 billion to $19 billion on its wireless and wireline networks, she said. That number will include an increase of roughly $2 billion in wireless spending compared with 2009.

Someone please wake me up. This phone is boring me. All Android phones are basically the same except for the UI. At the end of the day, still fragmented, unsupported with ok apps. Good but not good enough.

Elrabin

Really? All Android phones are basically the same except for the UI?

You mean as opposed to the near identical iPhones that have been released over the last few years?

Wow, it’s raining FAIL at ATT. Wife wants a new phone but not sure about upgrading to the new iPhone from her current 3G. Would like a nice Android phone but ATT so far has nothing I would buy. ugh.

Elrabin

netposer, i hate to say it, but abandon ship.

As long as AT&T is the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone, they’re never going to release a high end Android phone because that might “GASP” eat into their iPhone sales.

I gave up a few months ago and went to Verizon and the HTC Incredible. Bye bye AT&T, you’ll never see another dime from me ever again.

KD

This is the reason I purchased a Nexus One. The only problem I have with my purchase is that unlike T-Mobile you don’t get a discount on your plan for having an unsubsidized phone. T-Mobile’s network is strong here in the DC metro area. I should have just changed carries. I know better next time.

Elrabin

No way i’m spending $530 on a nexus one when i can, and did, jump to Verizon’s superior quality network and pay $150 for an HTC incredible.

RobCal

great. One less user on my network..

Elrabin

One less person on your network of iSheep you mean.

AT&T’s network is still going to be crap until they do some serious backhaul upgrades. Which they won’t do because that costs big bucks.

The Prophet Mohammad

I’m pretty sure you can get the Nexus One on At&t, which is still probably the best overall Android phone out so I’m not sure what you are talking about.

@Elrabin,
yeah the coverage is so terrible that they beat vzw every qtr in customer adds in 2009, and so far 2010. they also beat vzw by 67% in 3g speeds.

Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

Elrabin

customer adds doesn’t mean good service.

I think that you posted from an iPhone says it all

*rolls eyes*

justme

faster data, you can use voice and data at the same time… vzw customers porting to at&t 2:1 ratio… and only 26% of new subscribers are iphone subscribers..

Matt_F

I disagree with faster data on AT&T.

In the NY/NJ area, when i was on AT&T, i was lucky to get 300-500kbps.

Now on Verizon i get 1500kbps at the minimum.

Perhaps in rural areas where the network isn’t as congested AT&T is faster, but not in major metropolitan areas.

nick

Glad I am not living in a major metro area then. Att has the best service by far here in Florida. Blah another android phone…… sure you have a choice, but you also chose to wait eons for your device to get the latest software upgrade……if it ever does…..looking at you HTC. Oh how about the glass coming unglued on those mighty EVO’s? Everybody bashes the iPhone but at the end of the day it just works and you know if apple upgrades the software its going to work with your phone which you cant say for your android device released in the last year. If you want a flagship android device on ATT get a n1 or import a milestone from our neighbors up north.

frank

Ehh looks fugly

http://www.facebook.com/frank.roeslerIII Frankus

I drew out a size comparison of this “Aria” in relation to my Fuze per screen sizes and scaled images of the phones, and if what I’ve got is correct, this “Aria” will be the same size as the fuze, not this 4.6″ x 2.3″, which seems odd in itself. To be honest, I don’t think I mind the smaller size as long as it doesn’t feel like I’m talking into a Mead Legal Pad (checked out the Evo, and that was the only thing I didn’t like about it. it was a bit TOO big for a phone).

I’m sitting in front of a computer at work. Why use the mobile phone(sitting pretty at 5 bars of service thank you very much) when I have multiple screens and a full-size keyboard at my disposal?

Elrabin

Oh, forgot to mention that on my HTC incredible I can browse the full version of BGR without it crashing unlike on my ipod touch on mobile safari.

No reason to use a mobile app when you can get the whole web in the webkit browser.

Lets be honest, you only use the BGR mobile app so you can “be cool” and have it tag that you’re an iPhone user.

Dan

Blah Blah Blah…too little too late. Another low-end, Android phone. If there was a comparable GSM carrier, I would have changed by now.

AT&T = FAIL

Darryl Vaughn

It must really be cool to bash AT&T. Seriously, the HTC Aria looks like a great Android phone for AT&T and it will sell since people on AT&T do want a decent Android phone. So what if it’s small.? Cell phones are meant to be small and compact, hence, why they’re also called mobile phones.

Can’t we just let AT&T have some positive shine for one.? Also, please remember, AT&T is a business, they are just trying to make money. Gosh people, seriously, just love bashing AT&T every chance they get. Smh

The Android devices announced to date on AT&T are mid or entry level phones.

That is why we’re ragging on them

Darryl Vaughn

AT&T adopted Android last, so of course it’s going to take time for them to get in the good Android handsets. Sure, this phone might not be worthy of the tech geeks like the BGR readers, but to an average consumer, the HTC Aria is a perfect and decent Android phone. At least it comes with Android 2.1 and not an outdated version.

RICO

They should’ve added more internal memory, say around 8gb. Also, like the EVO, they shoul’ve added a front facing cam. I’m kinda disappointed that they left these features out.